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djn
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1561 Posts

Initially Posted - 05/30/2006 : 14:27:27

OK, I have not wanted to write this down because of a great and overwhelming sense of embarrassment, but if I’m going to commit this to paper, I might as well be honest.

As you know, I bought my 1977 Catalina C25 (La Tina Caliente) last December. The boat was on the hard at Rivers Bend Marina on the Pine River in St. Clair Michigan. St. Clair Michigan is located just south of Port Huron, on the St. Clair river.

I have been working on the boat all winter, on and off, as weather permitted. Rivers Bend Marina is an hour and a half from my house and my new slip, at Markley Marina on the Clinton river on Lake St. Clair, is 23 minutes from my house, so you can imagine, I wanted to move the boat as soon as possible, just to get it closer.

Last Wednesday was the big splash day and I had the day all planned out. Go to West Marine, buy a whip antenna and coax for a jerry rigged radio and a new Garmin 170C Chart plotter with chip for lake Huron, St. Clair, and Erie. Go to the boat, hook up the radio and GPS, and motor away. I figured it to be about a four hour motor down the St. Clair river, into the north channel, out across lake St. Clair, into the Clinton river and into my new slip at Markley marina. No problem Right?

Well every thing I did that day took a bit longer than anticipated. By the time I got to the boat it was 4:15 p.m. At the mouth of the Pine river leading to the St. Clair river, there is a bridge that opens every hour on the hour. So the next window of opportunity was 5:00p.m.

At this point, I have to tell you that I am a fairly intelligent guy and not prone to stupid or impulsive decisions……….

I have been working on this boat for five months and I want to go. That’s all there is to it!

When I got to the Marina, La Tina Caliente was in the water….and….she floats. In my delusional state, I start thinking that I didn’t really need the GPS for this trip as I have a set of maps and the Vikings didn’t have GPS so why do I. I have a cell phone with full batteries so I didn’t need a radio either. There is nothing in my way. After five months, I can go…..so I did.

Well if you don’t know this already, a 9.9 hp Johnson outboard motor does not do a very good job of stopping a sailboat with a 1500 lbs keel. But before I find that out, I back out of the slip and put the little motor in forward and start motoring down the Pine river. I was very excited. My very own sailboat and the weather is beautiful. It only took ten minutes to get to the bridge where, to starboard there are piers to tie too while waiting for the bridge to open and, to port there is a huge restaurant with a beautiful outdoor deck full of dinners. I felt confident in my boat handling skills as I powered down, popped the motor into reverse and revved it up. NOTHING!!! That little motor in full reverse did barely nothing to slow the boat. So instead of just cutting it hard and going around, I did the smart think and grabbed a pier. The harder I pulled the more muscle mass I could feel shredding. My Chest, shoulder, biceps, and triceps all ripping and tearing trying to slow the boat. I had to let go. At this point I had the option of motoring off and going around, but my idiot gene kicked in and I grabbed the next pier. What might have been minimal damage is now morphing into future convalescence time. By the time I grabbed the third pier, my arm was shot and I just let go.

I am still not sure what happened at this point but the bow of the boat swung hard to port and, in the middle of the river, in front of a whole deck full of amused dinners, my boat did three complete spins before it stopped pointing straight at the bridge.

My mind was reeling from confusion and disorientation when a very distant and awkward noise brought me back to the moment……it was applause! The sons of bitches on the deck were clapping. Don’t you think, at this point, the gods would have just opened that bridge so I could tuck tail and run? Didn’t happen.

While taking stock of the situation, I noticed the guy in the bridge tower with his arm stuck out the window pointing to a sign. “Please call on channel 16 to open bridge”. That would have been fine if I had hooked up the radio. Lucky for me there was a young kid working in the citie’s gardens along the river. I yelled out to see if he would run over to the bridge guy and tell him I did not have a working radio on board. He did and came back with a phone number I needed to call. I did and was given a number of the bridge. When the bridge guy answered “ooooyeeeee, that sum boa handlin” I knew I was being screwed with. He opened the bridge.

I felt so much better as soon as I got out on the river. Just for perspective, the St. Clair river sees 1000 ft freighters all day long. It is a major piece of water. So for the next two hours I just motored along. The sun was still shinning, the water was calm, one gull followed me for an hour before chasing a freighter from Ecuador in the oposite direction. I did a quick calculation using fixed points on the map and my watch and I was making around 7.5 kts. (the St. Clair has a six to eight knot current and I was with it) It was a very pleasant little cruise and I figured that the worst of it was behind me.

At some point, I started wondering if the six gallons of gas I had on board was enough for the entire trip. Sure enough it wasn’t. By the time I determined I was at the halfway point, the gas tank was half empty. There was no way I was going to cross lake St. Clair on fumes so I started looking for gas.

The first BP sign I came too led me up a little channel ending in a pier. To port sat five pumps. I angled the boat in for a landing and at the last moment I remembered. This little motor will not stop the boat. I have questioned myself often since then and still can’t figure out why I grabbed the pier instead of going around……but I did. Same as before, and I actually thought about it as the upper muscles on the left side of my body started shredding. I must have wanted to be evenly mutilated, side to side. This time I was going to win and on the third pier I stopped the boat.

I had to sit for a minute and take stock of my situation and reasoning skills. I have made good decisions in my life, some effecting thousands of employees, some supported by millions of dollars, both in the U.S. and ten other countries. So why can’t I get this little boat to Markley marina? As I tried to figure out how to get up the six feet to dock level, I had to laugh at the sign in the window of the station……”CLOSED”. Bring it on, I can take anything.

So back out into the St. Clair river I motor. I brought one of those blue pad/seatbacks with me and I sat on it in the back of the boat and tillered with my knee. It was a pleasant trip to the next gas stop which was on the North Channel leading to Lake St. Clair. From Deckers Landing (gas stop), it would be about on hour or two to the marina…..if all went well. I put in 4.5 gallons of gas and paid $16.50. Used the bathroom, stretched my legs, got in the boat, started up the motor and took off in the wrong direction. Totally the wrong way. Should of took a heading of 330, but not me. Nope, it was 230 for me. I am embarrass, again, to admit this, but at one point I tapped the compass and thought it had gone bad because I just knew I was in the North Channel.

I was in “Chanle A Bou Roun”. A dredged channel through what looks like an estuary dotted with tiny islands sporting little empty summer shacks. If I ever own a jet boat that drafts 1 foot, I’m going back. It is a great place to check out mother nature but not so good to spend the night listing to starboard. I was feeling so good about my little trip when the first bumps reverberated through the hull then tiller. For the life of me, I could not imagine what I was feeling. By the time I understood what was happening, I was stuck, stopped and the sun was setting.

Obviously the water was not too deep and I could see the bottom. It looked rather pleasant really. I thought about hopping out of the boat and dragging it back to the channel but then started thinking of all the wise(?) decisions I’d made that day and opted to stay onboard. In hind sight, I realized that it was a good decision. The current in the 18 foot deep channel is about 6 to 8 knots, but it looked like 10 kts or better on the flats. The current was pushing me onto shallower ground. Add to that a 10 knot wind blowing in the same direction as the current and I’d have never been able to keep it in stopped if I got it back to the channel. Add to that I do not have a ladder on board to get back in the boat and no dry close to change into once aboard. At that point I thought I’d call my wife and let her know that I was lost at sea. She did not take it so well.

In her mind she saw the boat engulfed by flame while by lifeless body slowly drifted into open waters: the sounds of screaming babies and the wrenching of the hull being ripped in two by ice bergs. In fact, I was hanging out in the cockpit thinking that I wish I still smoked. Seemed like a pleasant place to have a cigarette.

I tried different ways to get the boat unstuck and at one point my friend Marty (over the cell phone) suggested I ensure the keel was full up. It wasn’t…… I was so excited when I started cranking and the boat began a gentle sway. I was free….and then not. I moved about two feet into shallower water. So then I tried everything. Rocking the bow, rocking amidships, hanging way off to port, then starboard. I was getting so tired and probably looked like an idiot.

The time had come to admit defeat. There was nothing I could do except start making preparations for the night. Which in this case meant removing one of the cabin lights and hard wiring it to the battery and setting it on top of the cabin (I have not straightened out the wiring yet), laying out all the cheep-O stinky life preservers for a bed (the cushions were at home, clean and dry), and setting out dinner (Combos – Pizza style, and Gatorade). I also figured it would be time well spent hooking up my new GPS and reading the manual. When that thing was hooked up and running, I’ll be damned if it didn’t tell me EXACTLY where I was.

Time just meanders in Chanel A Bou Round. At times I thought it was late, and at other times I thought it was still early. Slowly the flats became alive with birds swooping and fish splashing. Being so close to lake St. Clair and being a cloudy night, the lights of the Detroit metro area bounced back down into my little estuary. It never really got dark, just twilight.

I don’t know what time it was when the silence vibrated, just a little, with the sound of outboards. I couldn’t tell the direction, but there were multiple boats headed in my direction, and then like Krammer exploding through Jerry’s door, four jet boats came flying around the same corner I’d rounded earlier. As soon as they saw my white outline (the boat not me), they stopped dead in their tracks. I am not sure what they said, but it was dementedly drunk talk. I flashed my make shift light at them and yelled through cupped hands, “can you give me a pull?”, and through cupped hands they yelled back “NO” and took off; cackling like a pack of Hyenas.

I think I stood there, with rope in hand, for at least a half hour. I was zoned out by their response and then realized that it was the correct response for that day. It must not have been midnight yet…..I was still in the Bad Day. Digging out my cell phone revealed that I had an hour and twenty one minutes left in that day. I vowed then not to do anything for two hours….just to be on the safe side. Things don’t always work out the way you plan.

My mind started working on me at that point. Even as I ate my dinner of Combos and Gatorade, I thought about how a Combo in my air way could kill me, and with no one around to do the Heimlich maneuver,….I stopped eating.

Time started meandering again. The flats became quite again and then slowly came to life with birds swooping and fish jumping. It was quite a little show that was suddenly shattered by one of the drunk boats rounding an islands and heading straight for me. The hair on the back of my neck was standing straight on end and through sheer instinct I hopped down into the cabin (I’m a big guy and don’t hop to anything, but this time I did) and came up with a pipe wrench in hand. Just feet from my stern they came to a halt. “You seen our buddy?” I could barley make out what they were saying. They were very drunk by now. It sounded like “yuk seing mower uddy?”.

As they left en-mass last time, one of the boats took a different tack and was now lost and aground themselves. I want to reiterate that I am not a stupid person. And it must have been the lateness of the hour, but I asked them for a tow. Thank God (really) they once again yelled through cupped hands “NO”. This time they where two feet from my boat. Again, the sound of cackling could be heard across the estuary as they jetted off.

This time I got pissed. Their jet drive washed over the side of my boat and sprayed me. I was seeing red as I spun to yell at them but my momentum was stopped by my dodger frame. I’m not sure if I was actually out cold but all was quite when I realized I was sitting. As soon as my senses came back, I grabbed my cell phone and saw I had ten more minutes before this day was over. 11:50p.m.,…..”just sit here” was my mantra.

The rest of the night was uneventful…sort of. My marine head is inoperative and I didn’t want to hang over the side because of no ladder, so I used one of the empty Gatorade bottles. It probably would have been better to do this outside but I was tired and had to go. I thought I had a good grip on the bottle but now I need new carpeting. Other than that, I took the time to hook up the GPS, munched on Combos now and again, sipped Gatorade and tried to get some sleep. It was not very comfortable laying on all those life preservers but I know I slept in spurts throughout the night. By 6:00a.m. I realized I was going to have to bite the bullet and spend the $50.00 to get towed so I called BoatUS.

Back in January, when my BoatUS card arrived, I was happy to see, right there on the front of the card, “On-Water-Towing: $50 per incident”. That’s all, just that little line so what would you take that to mean? Get towed for fifty buck right? When I called BoatUS for a tow and gave them my exact lats and longs from my new GPS, the guy asked me if I was familiar with their towing charges and I said yes. Heck, I was reading it right off the front of the card; what’s there to know! In about 45 minutes, the tow boat was motoring up to save the day. Very cool vehicle by the way. It looks like a Zodiac on steroids. Sounded like a big block Chevy under the hood. Drafting 1’ 6” with a jet drive.

The guy was very friendly and non judgmental. The only thing he could have done different was to bring hot coffee. We exchanged pleasantries for a bit then he asked for my BoatUS card and Visa. When he handed it all back showing a $519.00 charge, I felt like I’d been kicked in the chest. I couldn’t even talk, I just sort of stammered.

Apparently the $50.00 per incident statement on the card refers to how much BoatUS covers. The total was $569.00 with $50.00 covered by BoatUS.

What could I do? He was there, I was not going anywhere and I really did not want to stay, so I signed and he pulled. I don’t know if it was an illusion, but it looked like a jet ski could have pulled me off ground. It was effortless. He pulled me back up channel until I got the motor fired up and in gear. As fast as he came, he was gone.

The motor back up into the North channel, across lake St. Clair, into the Clinton River, and into Markley Marina was peaceful, almost surreal. I had been on the phone with my daughter Laura all morning and she was waiting on the dock for me. I angled at the slip, cut it hard, stuck it in reverse and the engine quit. Nothing. Silence, except for the sound of my Bow Pulpit ripping the starboard deck up were the front is attached.. At that point I did not care so much, just tied the boat up and went home. Seventeen hours on the water…sounds like a vacation.

Today, a week after my ordeal, the fiberglass guy at the marina is writing up an estimate for my insurance agent and I look back and figure it is just one more page in my book.

(NOTE to Duane; my friend manages the West Marine and I could not pass up the deal he gave on the GPS or I would have baught it through the link.)

Dennis
No Boat
S.E. Michigan

Edited by - on

Justin
Admiral

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502 Posts

Response Posted - 05/30/2006 : 14:54:40

Wow, Dennis, that is quite the story. Sorry to hear about all your bad luck, it just didn't seem to stop. I hope you're muscles recover and that you get La Tina Caliente fixed up soon for some future smooth sailing.

Edited by - on

Charlie Vick
Captain

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USA
423 Posts

Response Posted - 05/30/2006 : 15:06:33

Just keep thinking...

"The next time I go out it's GOTTA BE BETTER!"

You might want to take someone with you next time so they get their arms pulled out of socket.

Edited by - on

Tom Potter
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1913 Posts

Response Posted - 05/30/2006 : 15:34:45

oh my! its got to be all down hill from here!

Edited by - on

Don B
Captain

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USA
317 Posts

Response Posted - 05/30/2006 : 15:41:00

Dennis,

I'd wager most people on this board have gone through the same experiences...just not all at the same time.
- hitting a slip too hot
- disoriented about your surroundings
- running aground
- drunken as....e idiots in stinkpots
- outboard quitting at the worst possible time
- limited snacks and brews..er, libations
Upside is, you are safe and you had one hell of a learning experience. It would be interesting to see your list of things learned and what you would do differently.

Glad you're okay, don't quit, sail on.

Edited by - on

aeckhart
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1709 Posts

Response Posted - 05/30/2006 : 16:33:16

Dennis,

Welcome to our world. Sounds like a fairly typical first-time launch. Unfortunately you've had 10 years worth of trial and error occur the first time around. Yourstory brought back memories of my first launch 16 years ago.

If you do anything regarding this incident, you must publish your account. Add some lessons learned and send it to the Mainsheet and to some of the other sailing publications. It is very well written, and has humor and pathos. Other first-time boaters need to read it and learn.

By the way, once things settle down, perhaps we can exchange a sail. I'm in Houghton Michigan. Godd luck with your boat repairs.

Edited by - on

djn
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1561 Posts

Response Posted - 05/30/2006 : 16:34:53

Hi Don, the big leason here is to put my first desision on the back burner and think things out. I actually had a good time if you can believe that. My life has been very dull for the last year. I have been at the boat almost every day getting it sea worthy. At this point I just need to drop the mast and do all the mods and repairs, then I am ready to sail. My two friends that talked me into this boat are going with me for my first sail so I will have good hands onboard. Cheers.

Edited by - on

takokichi
Captain

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USA
321 Posts

Response Posted - 05/30/2006 : 17:53:21

Dennis - truly, you are a sailor. "I actually had a good time, if you can believe that." Yep - sailing is more then just a relaxing time on the water. Its an opportunity to be challenged, and to solve challenges. Its an opportunity to feel, just for a little while, like your resourcefulness is necessary to your survival. From my slip, its an all day ordeal to get to one of my favorite little towns. I can be there in an hour in my car - but it just isn't the same thing.

I am, however, reminded of something an old sailing buddy told me when I was learning to dock me C25 - never approach a dock faster than you're willing to hit it. Slow down early, and you'll be just fine. He followed that up with, don't listen to me, I sure don't follow my own advice. I'll look for and post the picture of the bowsprit on his Kelly Peterson 46 sticking through the gas shack window...

Edited by - on

stampeder
Master Marine Consultant

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1608 Posts

Response Posted - 05/30/2006 : 17:54:18

Now that all the bad #%&*! is out of the way, you can enjoy the rest of the summer.
Great narrative, that will only get better with every telling. That $516 is a bargain for the joy of telling such a great story.

Edited by - on

djn
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1561 Posts

Response Posted - 05/30/2006 : 18:27:45

Hi All, thanks for your supportive words. I did learn a lot during that trip. Now if I could only remember it. I took the boat out this weekend to see if new plugs helped the ideling(sp). It ran like a champ. At every turn coming back into the marina I pulled to idle and waited for the boat to stop, then continued. It is much more relaxing that way instead of point, shoot, aim.

Al, any time you are down in this area, please call. Now that my friend Dave has moved from Houghton to Montana, I will probably not be back to Houghton/Hancock for a while. Email if you are heading this way. Cheers.

Edited by - on

oldsalt
Admiral

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USA
578 Posts

Response Posted - 05/30/2006 : 19:26:09

Did you by any chance shoot an albatross before you set out???????

Edited by - on

Champipple
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
6855 Posts

Response Posted - 05/30/2006 : 20:01:16

I wrote two posts already to respond to this and none of them quite felt right.

We all made those mistakes, just not necessarily on the same trip.

Check the prop pitch on your outboard.
Try to avoid docking with current
Write that phone number down in a log so you never have to ask some dufus on the shore again
Read the docking tips here and anywhere else you can.

Learn from your mistakes...and also go buy a nice bottle of something and hide it for a year or two with a copy of this post. Pull it out in 08 and I gurantee you that you will find humor......at least maybe a little bit.

good luck
Duane

Edited by - on

Charlie Vick
Captain

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USA
423 Posts

Response Posted - 05/30/2006 : 20:38:34

In the words of Bob Bitchin "It's not an ordeal, it's an adventure!"

As Duane said we've all made the same mistakes, though I've never had to worry about calling a bridge operator to raise it for me. You try and make notes of what went wrong and how you can correct it for the next time out.
But... and thats a big one, no matter how much you plan or how well prepared you are, there's always something Murphy thinks of you didn't and when he figures that out he'll give it to you full force.
I can guarantee you there's not a sailor on this board that doesn't expect sometime to go wrong while they're out sailing. They may not know what it is and they may have years of experience handling every kind of situation but Murphy's always there to throw you a curve ball.
I figure every sail is a chance to learn. If it's not, its just a sail.

"What doesn't kill us, makes us stronger."

Edited by - on

britinusa
Web Editor

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USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 05/30/2006 : 21:12:44

Dennis,
the wait was well worth it, your words added much to the story. Very nicely done.

Wow on the BoatUS deal.. How long were you under tow? Does anyone know what the going rate is?

How about writing up a list of things that would have reduced the stress..

Hope your beer arm is working ok

Get back on the horse!

Paul

Edited by - on

Lightnup
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1016 Posts

Response Posted - 05/30/2006 : 21:21:56

That was a story worth waiting for. Well told, great use of humor. Latitudes and Attitudes has a section called "You think that was dumb?" in which sailors relate the results of some of their more memorable mental lapses. Yours would be a perfect submission, in my opinion.

Thanks for sharing it, and I do mean "share" because, as others have said, we have all made some spur-of-the-moment decisions that in retrospect were not conducive to the best day on the water.

Steve

Edited by - on

sailorman
1st Mate

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USA
69 Posts

Response Posted - 05/30/2006 : 22:21:13

Great story. Glad you are okay. It is good to share stories like this. It lets all of us realize that things happen, we learn from them and fix it. In spite of the damage to the boat and to yourself, you "had a good time". I can understand that. You'll remember that a lot more than 'closing a million dollar deal'. Thanks again for sharing

Edited by - on

Champipple
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
6855 Posts

Response Posted - 05/30/2006 : 22:35:55

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by britinusa
 Dennis,
the wait was well worth it, your words added much to the story. Very nicely done.

Wow on the BoatUS deal.. How long were you under tow? Does anyone know what the going rate is?

How about writing up a list of things that would have reduced the stress..

Hope your beer arm is working ok

Get back on the horse!

Paul

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Boat US contracts a rate...in most cases you are towed by a boat US tow boat too. The important thing to remember is that you are paying from the time they leave the dock till the time they get home. If you are being towed someplace other than their home port it can considerable escalate quickly. If towing is a concern, it is only another 40 or 50 bucks a year to get 350 per incident.

Edited by - Champipple on 05/30/2006 22:36:59

OLarryR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
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Response Posted - 05/30/2006 : 22:54:13

Dennis,

It was worth the wait to read your story. I can now go to sleep and dream of all the potential problems to watch out for the next day I go sailing. Thanks !

Edited by - on

ClamBeach
Master Marine Consultant

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3072 Posts

Response Posted - 05/30/2006 : 23:05:00

Above all other things, this voyage log points out the critical importance of having proper er... 'stores' onboard at all times.

Offering a sixpack to the powerboaters probably would have produced a tow. I figure that's at least a 100X return on your investment.

And what the heck, if a sixpack didn't produce a tow, you could have drunk the beer yourself and not fretted about being stuck in the mud (till the beer ran out anyway). IMHO: The pizza would have tasted lots better too.

Edited by - on

Arlyn Stewart
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USA
2980 Posts

Response Posted - 05/31/2006 : 07:24:52

A natural story teller... with a good story to tell... a great combination.

Thanks for overcoming the trepidation to keep this one under hat... the ability to find humor and share it are priceless.

Those who pointed out that the humor is made richer because it hits close to home are correct.

We all have many tranquil memories of nice sailing experiences, but the most vivid memories have the components of your story.

Edited by - Arlyn Stewart on 05/31/2006 07:25:31

takokichi
Captain

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USA
321 Posts

Response Posted - 05/31/2006 : 09:13:09

Boat US sounds like a really bad deal! Check out Seatow if its available in your area - much better insurance.

Edited by - on

Ericson33
Admiral

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USA
892 Posts

Response Posted - 05/31/2006 : 11:34:07

I can't stop crying, Reading your post I am finding myself right there with you. Great Read. It was once said to me that if you have not had the keel stuck the mud you are not a true sailor yet.

Edited by - on

saribella
Captain

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USA
286 Posts

Response Posted - 05/31/2006 : 12:04:03

What a great story Dennis................so worth the anticipation.........I think we have all been there at one point or another. Some of us more recently than others.You should read the book, Self-Sufficient Sailor (rev add.) by Larry & Lin Pardey, full of great stuff.

Edited by - on

dlucier
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Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 05/31/2006 : 13:14:46

Its sometimes hard to write about ones own foibles, but as others have stated, we've all had similar emabarrassing incidents with undoubtably more to come.

As you and your upper torso found out, these boats carry considerable momentum and unless you own a Macgregor with a fifty horse, you won't being doing much power stopping. This was one of the biggest things I had to get used to in the C25. My last boat was a bit of a light beach ball that I could easily stop via the motor, but not this boat. On the first trip I took to a different port, I came in a little hot and before I knew it, I was beaching the boat on the floating wooden dock. The somewhat startled dockhands were very helpful in pushing me back in the slip.

Anyway, Dennis, thanks for sharing all the painful details (emotional, physical, financial,...etc) and I hope your next outing is a little less...um... exciting!

Edited by - on

Don B
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USA
317 Posts

Response Posted - 05/31/2006 : 13:19:21

ClamBeach Posted - 05/30/2006 : 23:05:00

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Offering a sixpack<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Now hold on a minute...it's not like he's been stranded for days. Let's think this through folks...not a time for rash decisions. No way am I giving away my beers, er, stores

Edited by - on

Frank Hopper
Past Commodore

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Pitcairn Island
6776 Posts

Response Posted - 05/31/2006 : 13:52:36

I think an above average IQ is part of the sailing demographic. God knows I know people who are the exceptions that prove the rule, but as a whole we are pretty bright people. Another common trait of the "sailor" is a touch of paranoia; we tend to replace and refit before we need to repair. We are also seduced by the challenge of coping with reality; few things are as real as mother nature and a layer of fiberglass between you and the bottom.

At one point you mention the current in the river, 9.9 OBs are fine auxiliary power sources, they provide about 6 knots forward and 2.5 knots in reverse. Am I correct that you tried to stop your boat in a running current by reversing? Dennis, everyone is being way too nice to you about this. You owe your maligned OB an apology, it did everything it was designed to do; now you talk nice to it next time you see it. You ripped up your deck hitting the dock with your pullpit! I don't know the number of Hail Mary's required to make up for that! This poor defenseless boat puts itself in your hands and you do that! NO NO! Bad Dennis! Now this once beautiful sculpture of fiberglass and stainless steel will wear the marks of a boo boo for ever; how do you think it is going to explain that to the other boats after all the owners have gone home? " No really guys, he is a great owner, why he worked on me all winter before he ABUSED ME!" Then there is the legacy of debasement left all along the river! Poor La Tina Caliente, the embarrassment! So what to do? First rate repair is a must but not enough, I think you owe her a splendid graphic that will make her feel loved and proud. I don't remember if you have a furler but one would be a good idea, that way people will not look down to the deck and see the repair and La Tina Caliente will not be reminded of her defilement by you going forward and walking on her scars. No Dennis, your self flagellation is not enough, that only purges your own psyche. La Tina Caliente deserves some serious penitence on your part. Do this right and she will never let you down, do this right and redeem yourself in the eyes of those who judge her and her fate in her new owner's hands.
One other thing though, if in fact you have now established yourself as the crazy newby at the slips that everyone must watch out for as you motor in and out.. . that is not all bad!

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